


The 12th Hour

by CaroLeitze



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28678215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaroLeitze/pseuds/CaroLeitze
Summary: Michael Afton is a single dad. His new security job at the family-run Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza seems typical at first, but he quickly discovers that the restaurant’s daytime merriment is nothing but a facade. When his own daughter goes missing, he finds himself frantically searching for answers with the help of the ailing owner’s daughter, Charlie. They soon discover that there’s a sinister plot in the works and the madman who orchestrated it won’t let them get in his way.
Relationships: Michael Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The 12th Hour

**Author's Note:**

> General AU Notes
> 
> -Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is run by Henry, Charlie, and Sammy. 
> 
> -The only other restaurant the family owned was Fredbear's Family Diner (From 1979-1987).
> 
> -There was a large time gap between restaurants (1987-2003). 
> 
> -No FNAF 2 Location 
> 
> -William, Elizabeth, and Michael are NOT related (See character bios below). 
> 
> -No Bite of '83. 
> 
> -The Animatronics at Freddy Fazbear's are the refurbished diner models. 
> 
> Characters 
> 
> Henry Emily- 54 years old. The owner of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and Fredbear’s Family Diner, Henry is also the chief technician and creator of the animatronic characters. He runs the restaurant with the help of his twins, Charlie and Sammy. 
> 
> Charlotte “Charlie” Emily- 21 years old. Quiet and studious, Charlie prefers doing background/back of house tasks at Freddy’s. She enjoys tinkering with the animatronics (when her father will let her) and has even created one of her own. (Mr. Hugs, a robot vacuum cleaner.)  
> Sammy Emily- 21 years old. Much more outgoing than his sister, Sammy likes running the front of house and hopes to be the primary owner of the restaurant when his father retires. He is in a relationship with Vanessa “Vanny” Sinclair, the second-in-command technician at Freddy’s. 
> 
> Vanessa “Vanny” Sinclair: 23 years old. Outgoing, tech-savvy, and inventive, Vanny is Henry’s assistant technician and hopes to take over management of the animatronics completely when he retires. She and Charlie don’t always get along. 
> 
> William Miller: 56 years old. Upbeat, charming, and cunning. Henry’s longtime companion and daytime security guard at Freddy’s. 
> 
> Michael Afton: 25 years old. Ambitious and generally optimistic, Michael gave up his university degree to care for his daughter, Harper. He has worked several jobs but has been unable to keep any of them for an extended period of time. 
> 
> Elizabeth Afton: 23 years old. Michael’s bubbly and supportive younger sister. She helps him care for Harper and doesn’t work as a result. She enjoys baking. 
> 
> Harper Afton: 5 years old. Michael’s inquisitive and shy daughter. She enjoys drawing and can spend hours playing with a single cardboard box, no matter what the size.

_ August 8th, 2003 _

“You’re overreacting. These things happen.” 

Henry grimaced and looked up at his longtime companion and business partner, who was leaning against the doorframe and smoking a cigarette. 

“For God’s sake, William! You’ve been on the floor all week. You should have been keeping track of wristbands and-” A tickle rose in the restaurateur's throat and he preemptively grabbed a tissue. 

“Don’t stress yourself out, now.” William said, his British Accent thick and condescending. “We don’t want you in the hospital again.” 

“Did you see anything at all?” Henry rasped.

The security guard took a long drag off of his cigarette.

“...Yes.”

“Care to be more specific?” 

“Yeah. I saw the kids in question.” 

“And you just… lost them? We have the wristbands for a reason. I’m working on something that will help us manage them, but-” 

William stared at the floor. 

“William, are you listening to me? This is bad. This shouldn’t have happened.” 

“No, definitely not.” William turned back to him and smiled sheepishly. “But what can you do?” 

Henry removed his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes while William dropped his cigarette and snuffed it out with his boot. 

“Really, Henry, these things happen. Damn kids probably just wandered to a friend’s house without telling their parents.” 

“Four of them? Throughout the week? That’s a little excessive.” Henry was unable to hold off his coughing fit any longer and held the tissue he’d grabbed against his mouth. William waited patiently for the fit to subside, picking at some lint on his purple dress shirt. When Henry withdrew the tissue, he winced at the bright red blood that had accumulated on it. 

“The police are coming back tomorrow morning to investigate further. Be ready to answer any questions they might have.” 

William cleared his throat.

“Yeah, no problem. Say, I’d better get going. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow. You have inventory, I have a floor to look after…” 

“You go ahead. I have to wait for Derek so I can update him on everything. It’s our first night running on generator power, and I need to make sure that he understands the current situation.” 

“Wow, I’m glad I’m working dayside. Goodnight.” William gave his boss a smile and a wave before heading out the door. Henry’s breathing was ragged and his lungs burned as he buried his face in his hands. It had been a rough couple of months at Freddy Fazbear’s- customers weren’t coming in and there was just barely enough revenue to keep it open. He’d had to lay off several staff members in several departments. Security was not one of them- he, and the guests, needed peace of mind. 

“...Mr. Emily?” 

Henry looked up to see his nighttime security guard, Derek, lingering in the doorway. 

“Hi, Derek.” He cleared his throat and tasted blood. “We… we have a few things to go over tonight before you head to the security office. Have a seat.” 

Derek nodded and sat down in the worn leather chair in front of Henry’s desk. He was a muscular young man with shaggy blond hair, studying criminal justice at the local community college. Henry was quite satisfied with his commitment to the job. 

“First of all, tonight is the first night you’re running on limited power. All of the power in the building will go off at midnight, and our new generator will kick in.” Henry began. 

Derek nodded slowly. 

“It’s just to save a little money. If you limit your time on the monitors and don’t use your doorlights too much, you should make it to 6 am.” 

“Easy enough. It’s not like the robots get into too much trouble. Chica has a habit of rummaging around in the kitchen, but other than that they’re fine.” 

“So that’s why my kitchen staff has been finding pots and pans all over the place in the morning.” Henry chuckled. 

“Did you want me to clean up a bit at the end of my shift?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to pay you overtime.” Henry checked his watch. “Anyway, and this is nothing to be alarmed about, but a few more parents couldn’t find their kids after we closed tonight. We’re assuming they just wandered off, but we called the police anyway. They’ll be back in the morning to investigate further.” 

“Oh. Okay…” Derek frowned. 

“And one more thing. You’ll notice a large box backstage tonight. Looks like a giant present. It’s something from the old diner that I’m fixing up. It’s not active yet, but you might hear music coming from the box.” 

“Is it an animatronic?” 

“Of sorts, yes. Without going into too many technical details, it’s going to sit by the door and help us keep track of the kids.” 

Derek raised an eyebrow. 

“Huh. Sounds… advanced.” 

“That’s the goal. Once I get business going again, there’ll be major upgrades to all of the animatronics.” Henry coughed again, more forcefully this time. 

“You okay, Mr. Emily?” 

“Yeah. The blood thinners haven’t quite kicked in yet. Still got those damn clots. But I couldn’t stay away from this place any longer.” 

Derek nodded slowly. 

“Anyway, that’s all. Have a good night, Derek.” Henry grabbed several tissues and pulled the many keys to the restaurant out of his pocket. 

“See ya, Mr. Emily.” Derek stepped out of the office and headed down the hallway towards the security office. Henry walked past the show stage, where his animatronic creations stared out into the dining room. He started to walk past but froze- there was a long, drawn out, raspy sound, barely audible until he stepped closer to the show stage. It appeared to be coming from Bonnie. 

_ Damn voice box must be broken again.  _

Henry sighed and went on his way, vowing to fix the malfunction the following morning. Charlie had already texted him several times, pleading with him to come home for the night. But his work was never done. Not at Freddy’s. 

* * *

_ 12:45 am, _ read the digital display on the tablet Derek held. He took a sip of his energy drink before flipping through the camera feed. Bonnie had been the first to move, as usual, and was hanging out in the back room.  _ 92 Percent,  _ the power indicator read. The security guard stared at the large white box in the back room for a moment. It was emitting soft music that was barely audible on the feed. He decided to put the monitor to sleep in order to conserve power. Normally he’d do his homework, but he’d finished it earlier that day. He pulled out his copy of  _ Among the Lowest of the Dead _ , about capital punishment. He’d barely read a page when he heard the distant clanging of pots and pans. 

“Chica.” He said out loud. 

There was the sound of heavy footsteps in the left corridor. 

“Bonnie.” The footsteps came closer and he thought nothing of it. The rabbit would poke his head in, stare him down for a minute or two, then be on his way. The boy hit the left door light just to confirm his suspicions, which were correct. Bonnie entered the office and Derek looked back down at his book, particularly engrossed in a paragraph on lethal injection. A minute passed, then two. Bonnie didn’t move. Derek wrinkled his nose. The office was musty as always, with a single fan circulating a disparity of stale air throughout, but there was something else in the air. An iron-y smell mixed with what could only be described as rot. Rotting pizza? The animatronics had gotten it stuck on them before. No, it was far more rancid. 

Derek coughed a little and eyed Bonnie, who had leaned in close. He could see the rabbit’s endoskeleton if he looked closely. There was a trace of some dried liquid underneath his right eye. Oil? The security guard leaned in to get a closer look and coughed again, harder this time. The smell Bonnie was emitting made his hazel eyes water. 

“What the hell did  _ you _ get into?” 

Bonnie backed up slightly but didn’t leave the room.  _ Must be locking up.  _ Derek thought, eyeing the animatronic. There were heavy footsteps on the right- Chica had arrived at last. She leered at him through the window, her beak gaping. He was now boxed in, a predicament he was used to but quite annoyed with. The animatronics moved strictly on their own accord- pushing them or yelling at them to move was ineffective. 

The security guard sighed deeply and woke up the monitor- Foxy remained behind his curtain, and Freddy was still on stage. He absentmindedly switched to the back room camera. The present box was open. Whatever had been inside it was gone. He squinted and switched to the dining room camera. Something was moving between the tables. He leaned in to get a better look, but suddenly the monitor blacked out. He frantically moved the joystick to no avail- the darkness continued. When the feed finally came back to life, all he saw were Freddy’s glowing eyes. Then everything stopped- the lights went out and the monitor switched off. 

“Goddammit!” Derek growled, yanking his flashlight off of his belt.  _ That damn generator is supposed to be new!  _ He didn’t even know where it was, but he had a hunch. He turned on the flashlight and shined it in the gap between Bonnie and the left door. It was tight, but he determined that he could probably get past. He stood up and attempted to squeeze into the narrow gap, only for Bonnie to grab his right arm. 

“Crap! What the hell?” 

The flashlight fell to the floor with a clatter and Bonnie’s grip tightened. 

“Let me go!” The security guard leaned back on his heels and tried to pull away with all his strength, but Bonnie held on steadfastly. Then he yanked him twice as hard. There was a pop and Derek yelped in pain, collapsing onto the floor. 

“FUCK!” 

The security guard’s agonized screams filled the restaurant as he was dragged down the left corridor and into the dining room, where Freddy advanced on the duo. Bonnie dropped Derek abruptly, leaving him whimpering and seething in pain. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling as black spots blurred his vision. Freddy and Bonnie proceeded to look down at him, their eyes blackened- only pinprick-sized pupils remained. Derek attempted to roll onto his stomach, but Freddy’s massive foot prevented him from doing so. His injured arm was grabbed again and the pain escalated further; so much so that the black spots had completely overtaken his vision. He was acutely aware of being dragged into the back room and lifted off the floor, but delirium was setting in. 

There was only pain- pain that spread all over Derek’s body as it was forced into a spare Freddy suit. He could no longer cry out- his chest was unable to expand inside the confines of the suit. The soft chime of the nearby white box and the soft whirring of animatronic joints filled his ears while his lungs burned. All four animatronics were now present, staring him down with those blackened eyes and white pupils. The security guard took a shuddering breath to the best of his ability, but the effort caused him to black out despite the fresh air now in his lungs. 

The chiming of the white box was the last thing he was aware of. A soft melody, slowing and then stopping abruptly. 


End file.
